Artwork: Thank you SO much to dimensionbitch for the beautiful artwork! Isn't she great? Check out her Tumblr page!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.
Author's Note: Assume everything is canon up until The Boiling Rock: Part 1 and then the plot diverges. You will not see Chit Sang in this story.
Chapter 1: The Girl in the Icebox
"Where is he?" Sokka questioned as he tiptoed through the dank, dreary corridor. The Boiling Rock gave him the creeps. And although Water Tribe blood flowed through his veins, he found the coolers to be particularly unsettling. Nonetheless, here he was, posed as a guard, in search of the banished Fire Nation Prince.
He peered in cooler after cooler, shaking and shivering almost as much as the prisoners they contained. But one cooler in particular made his blood run cold, so much so that he had to double back to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "Was that girl naked?!"
Peeking in, his gut wrenched at the sight. So his eyes did not deceive him. "How could they do something so heartless? Oh right… it's the Fire Nation." His instincts told him he had to do something, anything, to help her. He opened the metal door. That's when he stopped breathing.
It wasn't just any girl inside that cooler. He knew this girl. He loathed this girl. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation.
Stripped down to her breast bindings and underwear, she sat with her legs huddled to her chest. Her head rested uncomfortably on her knees with her long, black hair down and fanned around her back and shoulders, offering a meager layer of warmth. Tears were frozen to her colorless cheeks.
"Why is she here? Who did this to her?" he wondered as he kneeled down cautiously in front of her. Her eyes were closed, but he speculated that she wasn't asleep. How could she sleep?
She was far past the point of shivering. Without interference, she would die.
For a moment, he considered leaving her there. He of all people knew she deserved to be locked away. But even the cruel, manipulative, sadistic Fire Nation Princess did not deserve to freeze to death. Alone. At the ripe age of fourteen. Did she?
He watched her for a moment as he deliberated. She certainly didn't look like the menacing terror he once knew. She even had an air of, dare he say, innocence about her.
Okay. That was it. He had to help her. "Azula…?"
She didn't stir.
His pulse was rushing. Surely touching her would be certain death. He gulped. "Azula, I – "
All of a sudden, she lunged forward and flung her arms around his neck.
He flinched. His life flashed before his eyes. "Oh, this is it!" He squeezed his eyes shut. But after the initial shock wore off and he realized he was still alive and breathing, he opened them to find the princess was not just hugging him, but she was nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck, trying to absorb any warmth she could.
This girl was fractured. Broken. Scared.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I've got you. I'm going to get you out of here."
Author's Note: If this sounds familiar, it's because it's based off a short drabble I wrote for Sokkla Saturdays, "Question". I had left an author's note on it saying that it was "a teaser trailer for a longer story I may or may not write". Well my friends, this is that story. I finally found the time to write it all out. I sincerely hope you'll continue to read it! Reviews are welcome.